The present inventive concepts relate to wafer loaders and, more particularly, to wafer loaders having one or more buffer zones.
In a semiconductor manufacturing process, processes such as a photolithography process, an etch process, a diffusion process, and so forth, may be repeatedly performed on a wafer. While performing these processes, damage and impact to the wafer should be prevented so as to permit the diverse processes to be satisfactorily performed. If the wafer suffers damage or shock as the wafer is loaded on a wafer loader, yield drops and additional processes may be needed to cure the damaged wafer. Thus, the industry would be benefited by a wafer loader capable of stably loading a single wafer or a bonded wafer into the wafer loader without damage to the wafer.